2014 Austrian Grand Prix

Qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix produced the biggest surprise of the season so far as the Mercedes drivers stumbled and Williams claimed the front row of the grid.

During the session drivers were largely preoccupied with two challenges on the Red Bull Ring: the amount of traffic due to the short track, and the danger of running too wide at turn eight which would result in their times being disallowed.

Button’s car has been repaired following problems with his engine braking in final practice.For your information it said I was in first gear while I was in the garage but I was actually in neutral. So I had to go back to neutral and then put it in first gear.

Q1

Dave Robson

Jenson Button

OK Jenson understood. Everything currently looks OK to us. So the car in front is Grosjean, obviously he left the pit lane with you, he’s six seconds ahead and you’ve got a 12 second gap behind to Kvyat who is on a timed lap.

Lots of audio break-up or edits in Grosjean’s agitated reply.No you told me he was on a quick lap, he was on a slow lap so then I have to [unclear] backed off and by the time we get the time [unclear] what I should have done. So that’s it.

Q2

Ayao Komatsu

Romain Grosjean

Yeah Vettel sector one… I told you he was on a quick lap because Vettel’s sector one time was in 17s.

Hard luck mate. Just sector three was… Well, half a tenth in sector two compared to your first run and then one-and-a-half in sector three compared to your first run. What were your thoughts? Sector one was green, it was good.

Q2

Sergio Perez

Gianpiero Lambiase

Like yesterday was saying I was four-tenths down on my previous run. So [unclear] grip as well.

OK so order at the moment is Massa, Bottas, yourself, Lewis has not set a lap time.

Phase/time: Refers to point at which message was broadcast. There may be a delay between messages being said and being broadcast. PQ = pre-qualifying.
Message: Repetitive or irrelevant messages omitted. Notes in italics. Highlights in bold.

OK, the qualifying laps are disallowed when they go outside the track boundary, but this is obviously the racing line. What happens if they do this during the race? If nothing, there should not be a penalty during qualifying. This is inconsistent.